|
time_is_now
|
 |
« Reply #75 on: 10:05:59, 06-02-2008 » |
|
That sounds like a lovely concert, Mary. I haven't listened to Bostridge much in the last few years, and I know he's not so universally liked now, but when he first appeared on the scene and was getting raves everywhere I was about 17 and just starting to collect CDs, and his early Britten, Schumann and Schubert discs were my introduction to that whole repertoire. A friend of mine (and a publisher of martle) once quipped that Bostridge 'appeals to old ladies of both sexes'.  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #76 on: 10:22:07, 06-02-2008 » |
|
My friend's husband, who hadn't seen Bostridge before, said, "He looks like a little kid", which probably explains why he always sets my maternal hormones raging. He still looks about 17, at least from a distance, and he doesn't get any fatter.
It was a beautiful performance of Dichterliebe from both of them, with an exquisite final postlude from Drake.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
time_is_now
|
|
« Reply #77 on: 10:29:45, 06-02-2008 » |
|
This must surely be a candidate for the most (unintentionally?) hilarious concert review ever written.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
|
richard barrett
|
|
« Reply #78 on: 11:43:38, 06-02-2008 » |
|
This must surely be a candidate for the most (unintentionally?) hilarious concert review ever written. That Griffiths guy needs to take a cold shower. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #79 on: 12:06:46, 06-02-2008 » |
|
I went last night to hear Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake in Schumann and Britten, Dichterliebe and The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. This was in the small Concert Room in St George's Hall in Liverpool, where I hadn't been since it re-opened last year. Beautiful room, holds 480 I believe, concert sold out. The programme was my idea of a blissful evening (well, perhaps Schubert instead of Schumann would be better), and I'd never heard the Donne Sonnets live before, though I'm addicted to the Pears/Britten recording. So it should have been wonderful, and almost was, but was rather spoilt for me by the acoustic, which is rather swimmy and ringing, so that words - so important, especially in the Britten - were obscured. I don't think this was Bostridge's fault, though he does have a slight touch of "Singerese" word distortion. It wasn't helped by the fact that the auditorium lights were turned off, so we couldn't read the words, awkward for those who don't know them. His mannerisms weren't as irritating as they are sometimes, and he was clearly deeply committed, tearing his heart out in the Britten to an almost frightening degree. I thought his breathing was a bit dodgy, and he also had to cough occasionally, so I hope he's able to do the Britten Serenade tomorrow at the Philharmonic, where we should be able to hear better. Drake was also very impassioned as he wrestled with the very difficult (I'm told) piano part, riveting to watch. Much to my surprise, they did an encore, a Schumann song that I didn't know and didn't catch the title of. It actually worked rather well, relieving the tension.
It's reassuring to know that there is an enthusiastic audience (including a few children!) for this sort of concert in a city so obsessed with football and the Beatles. The Andreas Scholl concert, which had to be postponed because of illness, was also sold out.
I’m glad you enjoyed the concert, Mary. If I’d known it was in the small concert hall I’d have gone myself. It is, as you say, a lovely room as I noticed when I went to see ‘Emilia di Liverpool’. I presume they filled the area used for the action in the opera with seats and had the performers on the platform. I certainly didn’t get the impression there were 480 seats for Emilia (not that it sold out anyway). The acoustic was fine for the opera with its small orchestra though I can understand it might not suit lieder. I was more afraid it would be the big hall – the one with the organ – and I really didn’t fancy paying £25 to find out how well piano & voice carried in that environment. And, one of my regular complaints about the Liverpool ’08 and the Phil, it’s very hard to get questions answered – or even asked. I actually tried ringing the Box Office to ask about availability and to ask which hall it was about two weeks ago but I gave up after about two minutes on hold (for a cultural institution the Phil box office has an incredibly annoying telephone system: it just repeats the same very short message every few seconds. Two minutes of that is all I can take). The web site isn’t much better. I’m sure it said tomorrow’s concert was sold out when I last looked; but it no longer says that. And when I booked online for Wayne Shorter it wouldn’t let me choose a price range and the ‘best available’ tickets they issued were certainly not what I would have chosen on the basis of the empty seats I saw when we turned up. I might go to tomorrow night’s concert if there really are seats left. I’m not that worried because I’ve got both his recordings of the Serenade and have seen him perform it twice (Otoh I like RVW 5, too so it’s a good programme for me.) If he is on form you’re in for a treat. I think you’re right about the Phil being a good venue for this work and Vernon Handley also appeals. I trust you’ll let us know how it goes. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #80 on: 12:23:32, 06-02-2008 » |
|
Tomorrow isn't sold out, HtoHe, so you should be all right. I've never tried booking online, or even by phone (we book everything all at once in advance through the Friends, to get the minute discounts!), but I can well believe what you say. St George's Hall is a very difficult place to find your way round, and although there are a lot of very willing stewards, they don't always know what they're doing.
I rather wish I'd gone to Emilia. I know people who did, and they also say the acoustics were all right for that. Perhaps doing it in the middle made a difference, but, as you say, last night that area was filled with seats. I agree a lieder recital in the main hall wouldn't be a good idea!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #81 on: 12:52:49, 06-02-2008 » |
|
I like the caryatids:  Nice to think that this room existed in Schumann's lifetime, though I'm sure if he'd visited it he would have complained about the acoustic. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #82 on: 13:48:21, 06-02-2008 » |
|
I like the caryatids:
What about the 'nudies on the wall' tomorrow night, Mary? They're so impressive we used to sing a song about them when I was a lad! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
autoharp
|
|
« Reply #83 on: 20:07:55, 06-02-2008 » |
|
This must surely be a candidate for the most (unintentionally?) hilarious concert review ever written. Reminiscent of the times of pre-decimal currency! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #84 on: 20:26:17, 06-02-2008 » |
|
This must surely be a candidate for the most (unintentionally?) hilarious concert review ever written. Couldn't get through to the end on a full stomach, t_i_n. The second sentence struck me as very suspect. Is it possible Mr Griffiths is unaware of one of the most famous reviews of all time (so famous even I've heard of it!), Bernard Levin on Vanessa Redgrave's 1961 Rosalind? I quote "this is not acting at all, but living, being, loving." No acknowledgement, though. Bit naughty? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Chambers
|
|
« Reply #85 on: 20:41:44, 06-02-2008 » |
|
This must surely be a candidate for the most (unintentionally?) hilarious concert review ever written. He certainly did the turning away from the audience and leaning over the piano bit last night. (If he had vanished, how did the reviewer know he was leaning over the piano? I can only assume he comes back when he's done his bit.) As for the nudies, HtoHe, I grew up with them, and I didn't even notice them. I was quite puzzled when I heard ribald comments from choirboys, who had obviously never seen a nude before. I had Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia, which had a lot of carefully airbrushed reproductions of works of art in it, so they didn't surprise me in the least. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
time_is_now
|
|
« Reply #86 on: 21:15:48, 06-02-2008 » |
|
The second sentence struck me as very suspect. Is it possible Mr Griffiths is unaware of one of the most famous reviews of all time (so famous even I've heard of it!), Bernard Levin on Vanessa Redgrave's 1961 Rosalind? I quote "this is not acting at all, but living, being, loving." I'm afraid I was utterly unaware of that review, HtoHe, but now you mention it I think it's distinctly unlikely PG was unaware of it. I'm quite tempted to ask him, actually. You couldn't give me a source for the review in question, could you? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #87 on: 21:36:26, 06-02-2008 » |
|
I think it's distinctly unlikely PG was unaware of it. I'm quite tempted to ask him, actually. You couldn't give me a source for the review in question, could you?
I can't lay my hands on a copy right now, t_i_n though I presume it will be in the archives of the publication that printed it (The Times or Sunday Times, perhaps). Amazingly, however, while searching I came across some evidence that one of his colleagues is aware of the review because he mentions Levin on Redgrave in the same edition of the same paper: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04E1D8133CF936A25751C1A9659C8B63A link to a mention of the excerpt I quoted is here: http://www.rsc.org.uk/asyoulikeitpack/about/performance-history.html#famous-rosalindsscroll down to Vanessa Redgrave. Sorry it's 2nd hand. If I come up with anything better I'll let you know. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
time_is_now
|
|
« Reply #88 on: 22:58:00, 06-02-2008 » |
|
Amazingly, however, while searching I came across some evidence that one of his colleagues is aware of the review because he mentions Levin on Redgrave in the same edition of the same paper:
Not the same edition, HtoHe ... a good five years later! I will try to track down this Levin text, though (I could just ask PG directly but that seems like cheating!). Someone must know it, given the numerous references to it ... Thanks for the fascinating lead! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
|
HtoHe
|
|
« Reply #89 on: 23:12:37, 06-02-2008 » |
|
Not the same edition, HtoHe ... a good five years later!
That'll teach me not to scan; I was just looking at the date at the top of the web page, not the one at the start of the article! If I unearth a link to the full review (which I've never read btw) I'll let you know. The chances are it's in the archives and/or volumes of selected articles, neither of which will necessarily be free to view online. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
